Who was George HW Bush?

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Bush Sr’s single presidential term in office was dominated by foreign policy – the collapse of communism in Eastern Europe and Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein’s invasion of Kuwait in 1990.

He was instrumental in building the international military coalition that forced Iraq’s Saddam Hussein out of Kuwait.

Bush became president after serving two terms as vice-president to Ronald Reagan, but he suffered the ignominy of becoming a single-term president – defeated by Bill Clinton in the 1992 election amid a weakening economy.

His famous 1988 campaign promise – “Read my lips. No new taxes” – came back to haunt him when he felt compelled to reverse policy.

Bush entered politics in 1964 after starting a Texan oil business and becoming a millionaire by the age of 40.

During World War Two, he was an aviator before being shot down by the Japanese in September 1944 while on a bombing raid.

Following his honourable discharge from the navy in 1945, Bush married then 18-year-old Barbara Pierce. Their marriage would last 73 years and they would have six children together.